White not ruling out Rousey-Santos down road, but not looking promising

As far as Dana White is concerned, when it comes to Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, the train has already left the station.

The week before this past week’s historic UFC 157 card in Anaheim, Calif., which featured the first women’s fight in UFC history, Santos made news with the announcement she had been released from her Zuffa/UFC deal and signed with Invicta FC.

But on Saturday at Honda Center, after Santos and manager Tito Ortiz were in the building to watch UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey stop Liz Carmouche with yet another first-round armbar, White wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the UFC still could end up making a Rousey-Santos fight one day. But the fight so many were clamoring for appears to be well off the tracks at this point.

“S–t’s rolling here, and Cyborg’s not a part of it,” White said after the post-event news conference for UFC 157. “They can have as many press conferences as they want to have, or show up here in the back or whatever they want to do. She had the opportunity to sign with the UFC. She chose not to. This thing’s rolling. We’re already moving.”

Santos was the Strikeforce champion at 145 pounds before being stripped of her title following a positive steroids test. While she was suspended, Rousey dropped from 145 to 135, beat Miesha Tate for the bantamweight belt in March 2012, defended it against Sarah Kaufman in August and signed with the UFC to become its first female fighter and first female champion in December.

The area of contention between Rousey and Santos is the latter’s apparent inability to cut to 135 pounds for a title fight against her. At a news conference announcing Santos’ Invicta signing, Ortiz had Santos get on a scale, where she showed a walking weight of 160 pounds. She will fight Ediane Gomes at Invicta FC 5 on April 5 in a featherweight bout.

Ortiz and Santos hoped to sign with the UFC, but with the promotion currently only featuring a bantamweight division in the women’s ranks, there would be no home for her at 145. Additionally, with the claim she can’t make 135, Santos and Ortiz continue to say they want an eventual fight with Rousey – but at a catch weight of 140 pounds, without a title on the line.

That, White said, might be possible – if Rousey believes the fight has merit and wants to do it.

“She’s the champ,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “If Ronda comes one day and says, ‘I’ve cleaned out this division, I feel like I’ve fought everybody, I’ll move up to 140 and fight her,’ if Cyborg’s still fighting at that time, we’ll see what happens.”

But until then, Rousey has contenders at 135 in the UFC. White said an April fight between former champ Tate and Cat Zingano at the TUF 17 Finale is almost certain to produce Rousey’s next challenger. As successful as UFC 157 appears to have been from a media standpoint, attendance standpoint and live gate standpoint, a rematch between Rousey and Tate might be an even bigger draw based on their rivalry carrying over from the first meeting.

The UFC also has fighters like Sara McMann and Alexis Davis already signed, with more 135-pound names to come, White said.

So as far as Santos’ future in the UFC is concerned, Ortiz’s strategy as her manager may have set things a bit astray. White said earlier this month in London that he was prepared to sign Santos to a UFC deal and had worked out a fighter share agreement with Invicta President Shannon Knapp to get the fighter bouts in that promotion at featherweight. The UFC, he said, would have footed the bill.

Instead, Ortiz asked for Santos’ release from Zuffa, was granted it – and signed Santos to Invicta, anyway.

And a week later, Rousey vs. Carmouche made everyone forget about any possible Rousey-Santos fight, at least for most of one night.

“This was the most successful fight ever, in the history of women’s fighting,” White said. “Cyborg missed the boat. You over-negotiate sometimes. The world isn’t going to stop. Nobody even knows who the f— Cyborg is. She’s got 30,000 followers on Twitter. Nobody knows her.”

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